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Spirit world
The Spirit World of Bandaiyan Spirits can be considered the offspring of Gaia. If Gaia were a great ocean, spirits are drops or cups of her ineffable essence. Spirits are living energy, lacking a physical form of their own except what they create through use of a charm. When the Gauntlet formed during the Sundering, it divided the realms and spirit beings retreated into the realm they had an affiliation with. Most of these realms are either outside the influence of the Triat or fall within the domain of a specific realm. A Wyrm, Weaver, or Wyld realm will have spirits exclusively of that type. Ghostlands, Dream Realms, the Alcheringa, and the Celestial Kingdoms are examples on non-Triatic realms and the spirits found there are not bound to the Garou by the same pacts as the Umbrood. Chiminage Spirits are diverse, complex, and often fickle or even dangerous. Each spirit has its own price it demands for its aid which is called chiminage. This it wants in return for its aid or lore. Young Garou cubs can insult revered spirits at a caern, causing them to threaten to leave the caern. This will require new chiminage such as the cub or their pack having to trudge off into the Umbra seeking whatever object the spirit wants in return as atonement. If these garou don't return with it, the sept leadership may make it clear that they shouldn't come back at all. Spirit pacts are hard-fought for and can to easily go sour. Spirit-Glyphs Power is hard to achieve, and spirits only reward those who prove themselves worthy. That is why the Rite of Accomplishment is performed at moots to acknowledge deeds and the rank system exists- a spirit will judge what kind of help it is willing to provide an individual Garou. Information like tribe, camp, rank, deed name and pack are drawn in glyphs during rites of accomplishment in glyph-marks spirits can automatically see. Pacts With Garou The Garou depend upon the spirits and the spirits in turn depend upon them. Garou need the gifts that only the spirits are supposed to teach them according to ancient pacts; spirits can also serve as allies, companions, and teachers. Protecting caerns, sites in the physical world where un-corrupted spirits yet thrive is one of the fundamental purposes of the Garou Nation. Once a Garou has learned a Gift, they pledge not to reveal its secrets to others. Garou who try to teach Gifts themselves rather than summoning a spirit and negotiating with chiminage are offensive to the Umbrood. So are Garou who resort to making pacts with banes, ghosts, and other "alien" spirits-- in Bandaiyan, this includes the Alcheringa. Certain tribes like the Uktena might have greater facility in doing so, but this is never without risk. Black Spiral Dancers make pacts with banes and the maeljin Incarna in very similar way as Gaian Garou do with the Umbrood. Its simply the style and flavor of the chiminage given and gifts and lore taught and fetishes crafted that differ. Pacts With Fera Each changing breed has its own flavor of pacts with spirits. Most of the Fera in Bandaiyan except for the Ananasi, Garou and Ratkin are deeply tied in with the Alcheringa. The Fera and the spirits who are most beloved to them generally hide from the Garou. Some make exceptions but they tend to acquire more expensive chiminage for giving aid to the Garou. Pacts With Humans & Mages The aboriginal peoples of Bandaiyan had deep relationships with the Alcheringa which was disrupted by the mass genocide that followed the Euro-Invasion. Kinfolk are more likely to have a natural affinity with spirits then other humans, but any human with motivation and basic skills in spirit-craft can forge a pact, which tends to be far more tenuous than those with the Garou and other Changing Breeds. Mages of the Dreamspeaker tradition can make extremely powerful pacts- which are rarely in the best interests of local Garou who traditionally hate and fear mages. Mages and some types of sorcerers can create fetishes and are as effective in binding and warding as theurges- and more likely to do with impunity as they did not make the same ancient pacts that demand veneration as the Garou ancestors did. Pacts With Fae Outside of the Dreaming, spirits rarely make pacts with the kithain. Chimerlings and Epiphlings, however, are more likely to pact with kithain though its done with oaths instead of rites. Its not impossible for a pact to exist, but its extremely unlikely and the kind of aid that would be given is unlikely to be teaching a kithain a gift or agreeing to become a fetish for them. Pacts With Vampires Vampires are considered an anathema to the Alcheringa and Umbrood alike. Even ghosts tend to be hostile, especially since many of them who hover around them were their victims. The Giovanni mastered the ability to force pacts upon ghosts but its very rare for any other vampire, especially those favored before their Embrace, to be able to successfully pact with a spirit. Bandaiyan